


Fairwells to James Ironwood

by Anonymous



Category: RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29765385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A funeral for James Ironwood.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 11
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

Farewell James, you were the last character I cared about. From your introduction you have always been one of the best characters and I would say nuanced but it’s clear that the nuance you do possess will never be explored in a canon context. To canon you became only a trope, a poor forced Wizard of Oz reference that hindered your character. Seeing you stand tall and stand by your beliefs in a way that made sense in Volume 3 endeared you to me. That someone on Remnant took the Grimm seriously.

Through volume 4 it was interesting to see you hold the world on your shoulders. While all those around you remained useless and obtuse. I had hoped that we’d see how you coped with the Fall of Beacon in depth. A fool's hope but it’s clear that any hope for RWBY is foolish. Come volume 6 things appeared to be looking up, even if your characterization was inconsistent to borderline nonsensical at best.

It became clear through volume 6 that your assassination began there. With Ruby lying to you, then even failing to do even a step on her own development by apologizing to you personally. It was here that the failures of the world building of Atlas and of your so called friends became clear.

The Fall of Beacon defined you, it was the ultimate betrayal. Where your own forces turned against you all because of a black queen. So when I saw your reaction to the chess pieces and you crashed head over heels into an anxiety attack, your PSTD which should have been foreshadowed more consistently. It really wouldn’t have been hard to do. Came to ahead, but it was after things that the plot line of your ‘fall’ fell apart.

As I know many people know Star Trek, has a decent military structure and society and aren’t afraid to use it. When an individual in the chain of command is emotionally compromised or not acting in a way that helps their own self care. It is the responsibility of their subordinates to stand up and take control. Be it Spock giving up the Enterprise to Kirk. Or a truly great military fiction piece as Babylon 5 when Ivanova relieves Sheridan of duty and tells him to take a vacation when he’s spending too much time on paperwork.

Your command failed you James. You are only a General not an Army General, who should have removed you from power. Or your own Brigadier General who could have taken over. That’s not even touching on the captains, commanders and everyone else required for a military to function. Never mind the Admiral who has to exist somewhere. CRWBY failed you for their completely incompetent world building.

To get back to what canon did give us, as soon as you started to crack, to panic like you did. Marrow should have just ‘stayed’ you, Elm could have relieved you from command. Winter could have taken over, this is what objectively should have happened. This would be an example of the chain of command working properly as pathetic CRWBY’s chain of command was. You could have made yourself useful, you could have fought from the front like a good general. Combat your fears and your PSTD directly and somewhat symbolically. Qrow could have formed up with you, as someone who fought in Beacon. Someone who would have an idea of what you were struggling with. This is a plot line that would have followed proper structure driven by logic. The teams RWBY and JRN could have gone to Mantle, for they are only seven uneducated kids. Ultimately not important.

Sadly that’s not what happened, in their desperation to have you ‘fall’ they pushed a narrative that makes to this day no sense. That when taken in it’s own context falls apart. That the good man you were was being assassinated for no good reason. Up till chapter ten of volume 7, I thought they were going to give you a character arc. Knock you down to your lowest point so you could overcome it. Overcome your PSTD, your stress and worry and reach out to your friends to help. Now though, now it’s just a matter of time before Qrow or Robyn stabs you. You and this show are dead to me now. You were the last character with character, who had somewhere to go. A clear path that any writer with any common sense would take, if only for the message in it. That our past doesn’t define us, that we can overcome our trauma. That’s a good message for any story. Instead we get that PSTD drives you mad, that when you need them your friends will fail you.

Goodbye James and goodbye RWBY. Watching you has been painful for many years and I’ve lost hope that you were ever be written competently. The fandom will carry your torch, as the complicated man who only wanted to help people. 


	2. By BrokenLevel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brokenlevels' farewell to James.

> "The fandom will carry your torch, as the complicated man who only wanted to help people."
> 
> There was only one thing still driven home within the cruel and needlessly sadistic caricature that CRWBY made James into - and that was, no matter what people thought of him, no matter how people HATED him, he stood by his ideals. His principals.
> 
> And oh, does the fandom certainly hate him now.
> 
> Heads empty, incapable of basic thoughts, he gave them the most beautiful gift in his dying breaths; a monster they could pile EVERYTHING onto.
> 
> All their hatred. All their anger. Their sorrow, sadness, and fear.
> 
> And he would bear it for them.
> 
> And even in death --- he will continue to bear it for them.
> 
> But alack, for all his gathered burden, I was not among those to which he gave release.
> 
> I will remember him as he was. I will remember him, and I will love him, and I will hold the strength he gave to me in my darkest times close to my heart.
> 
> I forgive him.
> 
> But I will NEVER forgive his murderers.
> 
> May he rest in peace, lauded by The Two Brothers. Absolved of his pains, and honored for his sacrifices.
> 
> May you be reincarnated, James Ironwood. Reborn within a series that gives you the respect you so sorely deserved, and were robbed of.
> 
> Goodbye, my old friend.
> 
> Rest well.


	3. By ArkosLover07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ArkosLover07 farewell to James.

> So... where do I begin? Oh that's easy. Early 2019, when I watched RWBY for the first time.
> 
> Seasons 1 and 2 (I refuse to call them Volumes) were rough diamonds that, when polished, would just shine full of potential. But RossterTeeth, instead of polishing that jewel, Stuck it into the mud again and let it lay there. Wasted.
> 
> This is how I feel about James Ironwood, my favorite character in the show. Introduced in early Season 2, je was for me like a counterpart to Ozpin: a more serious person who is taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of those he swore to protect; even if those same people were ungrateful, or even hated him for it. But James didn't care, the public opinion doesn't matter to him. He'll still do what he knows is right, and he would let nothing interfere with it. James was one of the people who asked Ozpin one of the most important questions in the show, a line that, now in hindsight, is really ironic:
> 
> "...but ask yourself this: Do you really believe that your children can win a war?"
> 
> James is the general of the Atlesian Military as well as Headmaster of Atlas Academy, thus he is responsible for the education of new Huntsmen as well as soldiers, who are all adults when their training is completed and they graduated. In standard military education, you are taught that extreme showing of emotion should not be present, as they can impede with your judgement and decision making. Teenagers mostly don't understand this, but keeping a calm mind is important when you are in a situation like the one James was cruelly thrown into in Season 7.
> 
> Team RWBY, Ruby especially, is still holding onto her naïve believes that everyone she thinks she can save can be saved. That everyone gets a fairytale ending, like the ones from the books she used to read as a kid. But the Fall Of Beacon and Pyrrhas death, as stupid and pointless the latter was, should've taught her something: that not everything is fine, that people do die in the line of battle, and most importantly, that not everyone can be saved. This could've been used as a starting point to mature Ruby and potentially show us her inner conflict with refusing to see the truth and wanting to go back to her fairy tales to escape this new reality.
> 
> But nope. Ruby still thinks that everyone, like the people of Mantle, can be saved from impending doom. But in the real world, some risks aren't worth taking. Someone, James in this situation, as to assess current developments and make important decisions out of it, and that means not always saving everyone. Team RWBY is at war, and for some asinine reason, refuse to acknowledge that fact. Instead of securing the Winter Maiden as well as both Relics, using one of them to retreat to fight another day, they want to stay to defend the town most viewers don't give a damn about.
> 
> And Season 8 pushed me then over the edge.
> 
> Desperate to make him another Super-Villain, they make James do things he normally wouldn't do. Like shooting an unarmed civilian for no reason other than shock value, and, as of Episode 10, threatening to blow up Mantle with a superbomb if his demands aren't satisfied for no reason other than for evulz.
> 
> This is not James Ironwood, this is another moustache twirling villain, and it's not even a good one. This is character assassination at it's finest.
> 
> YouTuber Vexed Viewer presents the problems I have with the show much better than I could, so watch his Season 7 review if you want to.
> 
> Anyway, with only two episodes left, James is sadly doomed to die at this point. After the final two episodes, I'm done with RWBY, the show and the FNDM.
> 
> But not the fanfiction, because most of it is better than canon anyways.
> 
> I had high hopes for this series going in, and had only some of it left going into Season 8. The latest episode though finally broke the camels back.
> 
> Goodbye, James Ironwood. Gone, but not forgotten. May you rest in piece. (2014 - 2021).


	4. From Strife

James, you were the one character that kept me hopeful through Volume 7 and most of 8. I thought there would be amends to the horrible handling of Yang's own PTSD with a good handling of your own, but alas, I was proven wrong. CRWBY has taken everything from you that made you a competent man and threw you down a toilet all to push some naive fantasy of a fucking idiot. The murder of your character will not be forgiven anytime soon.


	5. Ivy

James, I may have only known you for a season and a half, but I can say with certainty, you were in my top three favorite Professors category. I was excited to see what you would become, and despite me walking off, I did keep an ear out for you. I wanted to see the potential you had to grow into a new life for this show. And, although it was horrific seeing you pass before my eyes into nothing more than a hollow husk of troops and bad writing, I can only hope to do you justice soon. May your memory, your true untampered memory, live on in the early seasons and our continued exploration of your beloved character. Say hello to everyone else for us. And, if you happen to meet a blind seer who is in all green, let him know he too was robbed of his glory.


	6. By Fluffs

James, I've watched you since volume three, I've seen your character present it's potential in such a way that no other has portrayed in the world of rwby. Over you logistics and clear headedness in a time of travesty did you prevail. You survived under the thumb of the writers for years after Monty's passing, but your time has come to fall under their insolence. Your dedication to your kingdom removed entirely, and your logical thinking decimated by writers overstating the effects of PTSD for dramatics that aren't dramatic.

Truly you were a wavering force at the beginning of volume 8, with the longevity of your mental state at stake, and your moral principles becoming corrupt and altered under the unjust hands of CRWBY, I doubted you would make it through this volume, and I was right.

at volume 7 you gave me hope that maybe things wouldn't be so bad in the future of rwby, but with the new coming of volume 8, and this latest episode, my hopes for at least, a satisfying ending, are now neigh. You were the last beacon on hope, and your light has now been snuffed, and no longer can I watch your image be tarnished, i hope you will rest peacefully, but I know that won't be the case. with the writers puppeteering your corpse, trying to reanimate a long dead friend, you rest will not be peaceful, but I will try to remember you for what you were, and not what you are. 


End file.
